David Geffen’s Friends Share Memories of the Mogul at Inventing David Geffen Premiere

“Every person in this film is a boldfaced name,” said filmmaker Susan Lacy at the premiere of her documentary Inventing David Geffen on Monday. “The reason the film took so long is that it took a long time to schedule some of these people. You don’t say, ‘I want to do an interview with Neil Young,’ and the next day it happens. It takes like two years. And Cher, and Steven Spielberg, and Tom Hanks. It’s a film filled with very impressive people,” she added.

And those are the kind of folks—Jeffrey Katzenberg, Barbara Walters, Lyor Cohen, Mike Nichols, Rupert Murdoch—who joined entertainment-industry titan Geffen at the Paris Theater in Manhattan for the Peggy Siegal Company premiere. In fact, there were two back-to-back screenings, followed by a private dinner at La Grenouille hosted by *Vanity Fair’*s Graydon Carter. The film will debut on television as part of PBS’s American Mastersseries on Tuesday, November 20.

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders recalled photographing Geffen with Calvin Klein for a shoot about celebrities with their best friends. “I wasn’t sure on that one who was the celebrity—I guess they both were. But David and Calvin were best friends at the time,” Greenfield-Sanders said.

The designer confirmed that. “David and I have been best friends for so many years,” Klein, who appears in the film, told us. He found the film to be revealing, and funny. “It captures David in a way that even his friends didn’t know, going back that early. And the footage is incredible. I roared when David showed it to me in his apartment!”

During Geffen’s prolific career he’s helped make stars of musicians like Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, and Laura Nyro. “If you know all of the talent he discovered, that he noticed first, the list goes on and on and on and on,” Les Moonves said. “He knows talent—also he’s had success in music, in film, in so many different areas. He’s a true genius.”

Geffen’s pal Calvin Klein doesn’t know how he does it. “I could never do it! I can’t manage myself,” Klein said, laughing.

Same with Anjelica Huston, who has known Geffen for years. “I don’t think I would even begin to dream about managing a rock band or a musician,” Huston told VF Daily. “I mean, I can barely manage myself.”

Another of Geffen’s friends, Fran Lebowitz, harbors no fantasies about discovering the next big musical act and ushering them to fame. “I can hardly think of a more annoying profession, being a manager,” she said. “Do I look like someone who’s good at managing?”

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